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Cal Poly to Host Demo Day Event on Sept. 14

SAN LUIS OBISPO — The Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) will host its annual Demo Day on Friday, Sept. 14, at the Fremont Theater in downtown San Luis Obispo.

The event culminates CIE’s 2018 HotHouse Summer Accelerator program — an intense 13-week program that helps students and recent graduates who have developed new products and ventures. Representatives of the eight participating companies will give demonstrations and pitches and answer questions about their entrepreneurial efforts.

The summer accelerator program provides $10,000 in seed money to each company, hands-on strategic business guidance from Cal Poly faculty and mentors as well as dedicated office space at the HotHouse. The entrepreneurs receive training, introductions to investors, and resources to help move their startup forward.

The CIE Accelerators constantly worked and pivoted throughout the program, and the startups are seeing this pay off.

“Being in the HotHouse Accelerator program this year has allowed our team to cultivate our company culture,” said Shaun Wixted, co-founder of Lost Coast Surf Tech. “We have learned who we are as a company and what we represent while building our technology.”

This year’s accelerator companies include a variety of industries and disciplines, making it a unique cohort. They include:

— NeoCharge creates solutions that improve the ease of use and ownership experience for electric vehicle owners. Its first product, the NeoCharge One, is a simple and affordable way for EV owners to get access to fast charging at home.

— BooBees is a women-empowering surf company that provides sustainable products such as a beeswax-based surf wax to replace petroleum products. www.surfboobees.com

— Clove is an automated smart appliance that allows people who love food and cooking culture to grow a sustainable supply of fresh herbs and produce in their home. www.growclove.com

— Fauna Farms helps mitigate the environmental crisis through agriculture by providing farmers with a marketplace to consistently sell responsibly raised animals, and consumers with a reliable way to eat meat responsibly. www.faunafarms.com

— De Oro Devices is creating innovative technology to improve the quality of life for people afflicted with Parkinson’s disease. Their device utilizes audio and visual cues that are clinically proven to help individuals with Parkinson’s overcome freezing of gait, one of the most common and debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. www.deorodevices.com

— Lost Coast is an emerging surf company that develops premiere equipment. Their first product will be a high-performance surfboard fin with activity tracking technology, allowing surfers to push past their ceilings via the fin design and data. www.lostcoastsurf.tech

— Roopairs is an equipment management platform that enables restaurant owners and managers to track repairs and maintenance history, while also providing a simple process for hiring service providers when equipment breaks down. www.roopairs.com

— Sex.E provides sexual health and gender-based violence education through live sketch comedy shows and online content. www.sexe-education.com

Demo Day is sponsored by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Professional Corporation.  The Sept. 14 event is free and open to the public; advance registration is required. For more information and to register, go to 2018demoday.eventbrite.com.

 

About the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The CIE opens a world of entrepreneurial opportunity to Cal Poly students, faculty and community members and promotes entrepreneurial activity and dialogue across the university and throughout San Luis Obispo. For more information, go to cie.calpoly.edu.

About the SLO HotHouse
The SLO HotHouse is a community space created through the efforts of Cal Poly and the city and county of San Luis Obispo, the business community and the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The goal of the SLO HotHouse is to support the students and community members as they work to create new innovations and start business ventures. For more information, visit cie.calpoly.edu/slo-hothouse.

Contact: Candice Conti
805-756-5171; clconti@calpoly.edu

August 30, 2018